Live Updates: Senate District 47 Brewer Vs. Hines

Kelly Hines and Erin Brewer will go head-to-head in a debate Wednesday night for Oklahoma State Senate District 47 ahead of the November election.

Click here to watch live on News 9!

The debate will be moderated by News 9's Capitol reporter Haley Weger.

The seat was held for 13 years by Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat but now is open due to term limits. After an August runoff, the race is between retired U.S. Army Colonel Kelly Hines, the Republican candidate, and business owner Erin Brewer, the Democratic candidate.

Senate District 47 is considered a purple area and encompasses rural, urban, and suburban communities across Edmond and northwest Oklahoma City.

Here are key topics being discussed Wednesday evening. All answers are paraphrased and will be replaced with full answers later.

When asked about qualifications:

Erin Brewer: I'm the only candidate here who owns a business, growing the economy. I'm the only candidate with children in public schools.

Kelly Hines: You need people who are selfless servants and born leaders. I worked in the most diverse workforce there is, the U.S. Army.

What do the candidates think is the biggest issue to tackle if they are voted into the state Capitol?

Kelly Hines: Education. I'm a big public education supporter. I'm a product of it. We've got to have great education where parents have a choice. We didn't get to the bottom of the barrel overnight. We're not going to get out of it overnight.

Erin Brewer: Ryan Walters is the biggest problem in our district. He's attacked our schools. I believe it's the biggest problem in the state. He's an economic deterrent. He is the top priority for me to hold him accountable.

Workforce development between rural and urban communities:

Kelly Hines: I grew up in rural Oklahoma. I was a poor kid and am now vice president of a company in Edmond. It takes somebody who can talk both languages to bridge the gap between rural versus urban.

Erin Brewer: I have lots of contacts with rural legislators. Rural communities face housing challenges to attract businesses and employees.

Would you vote for a quarter-point income tax reduction?

Erin Brewer: I would not in this upcoming session. We are way too close to multiple income revenue failures.

Kelly Hines: I would vote yes. I am for reducing or eliminating state income tax completely.

Do you believe Oklahoma should have a statewide vote on making abortion services legal?

Erin Brewer: Yes. Kelly, I want to remind you that you signed a pledge aligned with an anti-abortion position. I assure you that I will stand with women. I've been really clear on how I feel.

Kelly Hines: Yes. Abortion is a hard topic to get your head wrapped around. I agree that you have to make exceptions for the life of the mother, and I have a hard time telling somebody that has been brutalized that they have to have a baby. I am going to support any law that is on the books.

What do you like about how Ryan Walters has handled education?

Kelly Hines: I like that he has a spine. It doesn't mean I always agree with him. I agree with him that I don't want porn in schools, DEI or boys in girls' bathrooms. But I disagree with him on the Bibles. I want my parents and clergy to be teaching my kids religion.

Erin Brewer: Ryan Walters is failing us in every way. I don't think there is anything admirable about him. He hasn't done a single thing to advance students achieving anything.

What's the most important thing we can do to improve reading scores across Oklahoma?

Erin Brewer: The No. 1 challenge is to keep great teachers in our classrooms. We have got to do a better job of resourcing and equipping our teachers. We begin by ensuring that we retain our experienced educators. We have to start incentivizing young people on education as a career.

Kelly Hines: I think it begins with parental involvement. We do have to recruit and retain the best possible teachers. What we've got to do is get all the stakeholders in the same room. We've been attacking it one year at a time. We need a 5-8 year plan with goals and benchmarks. We've got a 'brain drain' with smart young people leaving the state.

What can Oklahoma do to help college graduates to find jobs in the state?

Kelly Hines: We've got to make Oklahoma a place where businesses want to come.

Erin Brewer: I'm the only business owner in this race. Companies are desperate for great employees. As a state, we have to be making investments from infrastructure to broadband to great schools -- creating a great quality of life.

What role should the legislature have in housing?

Erin Brewer: I think the state has a role in supporting municipalities. We need all types of housing from family dwellings to apartments.

Kelly Hines: I don't like government involvement when it doesn't need to be. That's the American way and housing needs to be, too. Let the market decide.

What is the most pressing issue for public safety in Oklahoma?

Kelly Hines: What people are asking me is about the Southern border with human and drug traffickers. I think we need to enforce the law as it's on the books. We've got to get crime under the control.

Erin Brewer: What I can assure you is that we must continue to support law enforcement. We are seeing drug and human trafficking. We need to make sure law enforcement is equipped.

What about Fentanyl?

Kelly Hines: We need to do more education and not as much incarceration.

Erin Brewer: We do have education to do. I do sometimes think sometimes incarceration is needed. I am all for justice reform, but sometimes incarceration is needed.

How do you approach conversations with people in the opposite party?

Erin Brewer: It's one of the campaign promises I made when I launched a year ago. To build a coalition of people as neighbors first. Oklahomans are so weary of extremism and political division. Public schools and growing our economy are vital. This is very much a purple district.

Kelly Hines: Erin is misleading the voters by not having your party on your signs.

Brewer: I don't lead with party affiliation.

Oklahoma has SQ833 on the ballot. What do voters need to know about the proposal and do you support it?

Kelly Hines: I don't like any new taxes, but I do like it when voters get to choose. I don't like it personally. Against.

Erin Brewer: I need to do some research on SQ 833. What I've learned is that municipalities really like this option. But I agree that we'll abide by what the voters decide. Undecided.

Kamala Harris or Donald Trump. Which candidate aligns best with the district?

Erin Brewer: There is significant support for the Harris-Walz district. I will cast my ballot for Kamala Harris, a candidate who will uphold the Constitution and the rule of law.

Kelly Hines: I would have to go with Trump as the one we've got to vote for. We were safer. He says and does some things I wish he didn't, but I've got to go with Trump.